Global Disasters/ Significant Events Headlines – 6 April 2013

Fukushima Nuke Plant Leaking Large Quantities of Radioactive Water

Up to 120 tons of radioactive water may have leaked from one of the seven underground storage tanks at Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, contaminating the surrounding ground, Tokyo Electric Power Co was reported as saying.

The storage tanks hold about 13,000 cubic meters of contaminated water, which  TEPCO is transferring to other tanks nearby, Kyodo news wire quoted the utility as saying.

Third large oil spill in 7 days: Shell Pipeline ruptures in Texas

Thousands of gallons of oil have spilled from Shell Pipeline in West Columbia, Texas, the third incident of the kind in a week, said a report.

Manatee death toll rising in Florida despite Red Tide ebbing

Red Tide, a deadly algae bloom, has killed at least 241 manatees in Florida so far this year, surpassing the previous record of 151 deaths set in 1996.

The recent Red Tide bloom in the Gulf of Mexico began in September 2012  covering a 70-mile (113-km) stretch of southwest Florida’s coast from Sarasota County to Lee County, which is  home to a large population of the state’s estimated 5,000 manatees, said a report.

Karenia brevis. Photo:  FFWCC

Meanwhile, deaths of 85 manatees since July on Florida’s Atlantic coast remain a mystery. The mass die-off occurred  in the Indian River Lagoon, Brevard County.

• Red Tide Kills Millions of Fish Along Texas Coast

Mount Karangetang: A Mountain of Fire

Lava spewes from the top of Mount Karangetang. Photo: AFP. Image may be subject to copyright.

• One of the most active volcanoes in Indonesia, Karangetang, aka, Api Siau, is a located on the northern part of Siau Island.
• Karangetang was one of the three volcanoes that erupted after the The Great East Japan Earthquake struck on March 11, 2011.

Frozen Britain

UK temperatures over the past week fell to among the coldest experienced in April for nearly 100 years, with maximum temperatures barely above the freezing in many parts of the southeast, reports said.

At -11.2ºC (11.8 degrees Fahrenheit), the village of Braemar in Scotland, about 90 km west of Aberdeen, held the joint coldest weather anywhere in the UK in April for nearly a century.

US Weather: Snow Impacting the Upper Midwest and Northern Great Lakes

‘A storm system moving through the Upper Midwest will bring a round of late-season winter weather to parts of the northern Great Lakes region on Saturday. The heaviest snow will fall from northeastern Minnesota through northern Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. These areas could see up to 6 inches of snow.’ NOAA reported.

• How Homo Ignarus Killed Spring

Previous Global Disasters/ Significant Events Headlines

• Global Disasters/ Significant Events Headlines – 2 April 2013

Florida’s Endangered Manatees Faced Another Deadly Year

453 dead manatees recovered in Florida waters

Cold water raises the Manatee death toll total for the third consecutive year.

Disaster Calendar 2012 – January 5

[January 5, 2012]  Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.  SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,532 Days Left to the ‘Worst Day’ in Human History

• Florida, USA.“Cold stress’’ killed over a quarter of the 453 dead manatees recovered in Florida waters, state wildlife biologists said.
  • It was the third consecutive year that cold water drove up the annual death total, the second-highest on record.
  • At least 88 of the sea cows were killed by boats.
  • Brevard county topped the list with 100 manatee deaths including 28 from cold stress and 7 from boats.
  • In 2010, a record 766 carcasses were found.
  • In 2009, 429 dead manatees were recovered.

Other Global Disasters

• Mindanao Island, Philippines.Disaster visits  Mindanao Island again. A massive landslide in Pantukan town in Compostella Valley, 900 km south of Manila, has killed at least 25 people.
  • More than 100 people are still buried at or near a gold mine.
  • “Thousands of poor Filipinos dig and pan for gold in the area, hoping to strike it rich despite the dangers of largely unregulated mining. The tunnels are often unstable and landslides and accidents are common.”
  • Typhoon WASHI killed at least 1,257 people in Mindanao, and left an unknown number of people missing last month.
• Montana, USA. Blackfeet Tribe have declared a state of emergency in Browning area.
  • Two major fires have forced evacuations and highway closures in Browning area, a report said.
• South Sudan.  The state of Jonglei in South Sudan has been declared a  disaster area following inter-tribal fighting in the past few weeks.
  • “Fighting erupted in late December when the 6,000 armed men from the Lou-Nuer ethnic group attacked Pibor county, the home of the Murle community, in the latest of a series of raids between the two groups,” a report said.About 50,000 members of the Murle community have been displaced and hundreds of others have been killed.
  • More than 1,000 people have killed in cattle raids, abductions and counter attacks in the last seven months, the report said.
• Tennessee, USA. Forty-three counties in the state of Tennessee have been declared agricultural disaster areas, USDA said.
  • The disaster designations are due to losses caused by drought and excessive heat that occurred from May 1, 2011, through Oct. 31, 2011.

Tennessee counties designated as Primary Disaster Areas. Source: USDA

Tennessee counties declared as Contiguous Disaster Areas. Source: USDA

• The following counties in Kentucky, Mississippi and North Carolina were also designated as disaster areas because they are contiguous.
  • Kentucky: Allen, McCreary, Monroe and Wayne counties.
  • Mississippi: Benton and Marshall counties.
  • North Carolina: Cherokee, Graham and Swain

• Texas, USA.131 Counties in the Lone Star State have been declared agricultural disaster areas, USDA reported.
  • The disaster designations are due to losses caused by drought, excessive heat, high winds and wildfires that occurred during the period of Jan. 1, 2011, and continues.

Texas Primary Disaster Counties. Source: USDA

Texas counties declared as Contiguous Disaster Areas. Source: USDA

• Several counties in New Mexico and Oklahoma were also designated as disaster areas because they are contiguous.
  • New Mexico: Lea County.
  • Oklahoma: Bryan, Choctaw, Jefferson, Love, McCurtain and Marshall counties.

Global Disaster Links

• Typhoon WASHI Legacy Lingers
• Philippines declares national calamity
• Typhoon WASHI: 1,650 dead or missing

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Back to the Primordial Future
• Mass Die-offs

• 2010 Disasters [Links to 2010 Disaster Calendar]
• Mega Disasters: 2011 SIX TIMES MORE DISASTROUS THAN 2010
• 2011 Disaster Calendar